MUFG set to halve Hong Kong and Singapore workforce
(20 September 2019 – Asia) Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is preparing to cut half its Asian investment banking workforce outside Japan as it struggles with dwindling profits.
Executives in Tokyo have decided to make redundant as many as 90 of the 180 Securities staff in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Financial Times is reporting.
All investment banking divisions will be affected, with trading operations to be closed almost entirely and sales and back-office staff heavily cut and their responsibilities transferred to London, the people said. The Asian debt capital markets team will lose a few members but will remain largely intact.
Big drops in profit at the bank’s international trading businesses amid volatile markets and slowing growth in Europe and China prompted the top-level debate about staff numbers.
The move follows in the footsteps of a number of Japanese banks who have been shrinking their overseas operations this year.